Testify

Interview by Sophie Diamantis-Fry

Hello - this is Myk, vox of Testify, answering your questions

How has the response been so far for your newest album, "Triviality Beyond Acceptance"?

Myk: Since it was not released in Europe so far, and most of the
reactions to be expected in the US are yet to come, it is a bit too
early to answer this. We are quite curious about how the album will be
received, for we are still very satisfied with the result.

In what ways would you say you have grown as musicians on this album in
comparison to your earlier records? Has anything significantly changed?

Myk: I still we still grow, as musicians and as song-writers. It is a
never ending process. For "MMMYAOOOO", the 1996-album, and "Crack The
Mind", which was released in late 1998, the co-writing-time was mainly MosesW. and myself; for the very early works it was mainly Rascal and me. For "Triviality Beyond Acceptance" there was mainly the Myk/Kullf-writing team, with Mathias as executor. So this album was made in a new constallation.

Can you tell me a little background on the Testify lineup and how the band formation came to be?

Myk: Some of the members I have already mentioned. Mathias and Myk are
the only original members that are still in the team. Rascal left in
1995; Lo (guitar player) was Testifyler in 1992/93. Thor replaced him but was asked to leave in early 1994. Moses (guitar as well) left in 1999. Bull (bass) and Sven (drumas) are still "associated" members.

Are any of you involved in other music projects or belonged to other bands prior to Testify?

Myk: Yeah. In former days Rascal and Myk and Lo were members of The Fair Sex, an old German EBM/Goth band. These Three founded, together with Armageddon Dildos-producer Mathias Black the band Testify. And nowadays The Fair Sex crawls back to life once more.

What other aggro industrial or metal bands are you listening to these days?

Myk: In this Spring 2002 I enjoy listening to Pitchshifter´s new album, to Godflesh´s late 2001-album; to Oneiroyd Psychosis, dk.com, Red Harvest
- stuff like this.

What is your touring situation like right now? Are there plans to come to
America?

Myk: No really worked out plans are to offered for the moment being

How does Testify keep the music so refreshing and multi-layered?

Myk: Thanks for the compliment. We put much work and concentration into the material. We have this habit to think of different "plains" during
the production-process. Behind the first plain, closest to the ear and
mind, we quite often try to create another plain, and even the farthest
background with tiny noises and atmo-sounds - to fill a kind of aural
landscape- to reach, at best, a kind of three-dimensional construction.

What are you most proud of with this record?

Myk: There are several titles of which I´m specially proud of, such as
"Grinning Sun" or "Invisible Hell", as well as with the extreme
brutality of "Abuser´s Gabble". But there is no doubt that over all I do
apriciate "Under The Cold Moon". This very heavy, very dark, very slow
and hyper-hopelessness-title makes me shiver with cold enthusiasm. I
still think that this one is absolutely unbelievable. It is a
title that I have ever wished to write.

What is the inspiration behind your lyrics and music compositions?

Myk: The Darkness. The Solitude. The Aimless Wrath. The Rising Restlessness. The Passing Of Everything. The Cellar That Waits - something like that. Testify delights in inquiring the Dark Side. The Side Beyond.

What kinds of emotions do you think your fans get from listening to Testify?

Myk: I hope they will get sort of more free of their aggression; I hope that they find elements and ideas which they have felt of thought in their own life and experiences. Perhaps they find their own anger and dissatisfaction reflected - perhaps finding, at the same time, means, to turn these schemes to a kind of positive energy.

What other interests do you have besides music?

Myk: Besides drinking German beer (which I always mention, but not
without cause: Myk and Kullf sometimes are too much into that tiny bit
of drinking too much, with sometimes even arousing ridiculous scenes) -
I myself suffer under the burden of sexus (a terrible habit) - and I
have started to be an author writing Fantasy-Slapstick-novels such as
"Der Herr Der Ohrringe" which is The Lord Of the Earrings, a persiflage.
Thru-out the recent weeks I was on literatur-tour in Germany reading
chapters of the novel.

I think your band is underrated in America and not as well known as you can and should be? How do you feel about this?

Myk: I am very relieved and glad that you say that. For I do think quite similar about this matter. Only - I was already wondering whether I
might be the only person in the world that thinks Testify is underrated.
Definetly we are not as well known as we should be, har. But who knows?
Perhaps someday we will be that well-known as we have not earned it
(which would be more bearable than the nowadays situation)

What kinds of things to you hope to accomplish with Testify?

Myk: We had great visions in the beginning; and still we have visions of that sort. I would like hundreds of thousand people enjoying the dark
shadows Under The Cold Moon that Testify has created.

What do you have planned for the near future?

Myk: The older and newer band The Fair Sex is in charge for the time
being; the Testifylers however already bear new stuff in their heads
which might break out quite in the near future.